Thomas Clarke
Tom Clarke was held in the Florence jail in Alabama when, on the night of September 5, 1872, an armed mob broke in and took him from the jail along with two other men, and hanged them. According to the Montgomery Advertiser, the men were hanged by the mob, and the Kentucky Gazette reported that armed guards fired at the attackers. The Daily Dispatch and Montgomery Advertiser accounts describe the mob as armed and the hanging as the cause of death. No account given here says how the mob got past the guards or whether jail staff resisted or handed the men over.
Cause of death, as reported: Taken from custody and lynched. An armed mob took Tom Clarke from the Florence jail and hanged him, and a Montgomery Advertiser report says it had no information on who carried out the hanging.
Reported by: Montgomery Advertiser (reporters); news dispatch.